Ukraine's military says its forces struck a base of Russia's elite Rubicon drone unit in the occupied port city of Berdyansk in the Zaporizhzhia region, 107 kilometres (66 miles) behind the front line — one of four Russian drone command posts Kyiv says it hit in a coordinated operation. The Southern Defense Forces announced the Berdyansk strike on Monday, November 9, releasing footage of drones hitting multiple locations around a building complex it said served as a Rubicon base. Russia has not confirmed the strikes, and the claims in this report are Ukraine's, attributed as such throughout.

Source: Kyiv Independent via EuropeSays

According to Ukraine's General Staff, the attack on the Berdyansk site took place on November 7 and hit a Rubicon temporary deployment point and a drone control point. In its November 8 report, the General Staff said Ukrainian forces struck four Russian drone command posts in total: the Rubicon facility in Berdyansk, posts near Oleshky on the occupied eastern bank of the Dnipro River in the Kherson region and near Bilytske in the Donetsk region, and a fourth command facility near Aleksandrovskoye in Russia's Bryansk region, inside Russia itself.

Source: UNITED24 Media via EuropeSays

The Berdyansk operation was a joint effort, the Southern Defense Forces said, involving the forces themselves, Ukraine's Foreign Intelligence Service (SZRU), the Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) and the 412th Separate Unmanned Systems Regiment, with other reporting also naming the Harpy unmanned-systems group. "This operation once again proves that there is no safe rear for Russian occupiers," the Southern Defense Forces said.

The Southern Defense Forces said Rubicon "lost trained specialists who were engaged in training operators and passed on their experience to others" in the strike. The General Staff said Russian personnel and equipment losses from the four strikes were still being assessed, did not disclose which weapons were used, and gave no detailed damage assessment for each location: "The enemy's losses are still being clarified, but the effect is already evident: each disabled control point means fewer Russian drones over our positions and roads."

What is Rubicon?

The Rubicon Center for Advanced Unmanned Technologies was formed in August 2024 by Russia's defence ministry and is described by Kyiv and by the Independent's reporting as the core of Russia's unmanned-systems forces — a sprawling unit made up of detachments each numbering several hundred personnel. Its work includes hunting Ukrainian drone teams on the ground, intercepting Ukrainian reconnaissance and strike drones, and cutting off Ukrainian logistics. UNITED24 Media says the unit has also been linked to drone attacks against civilians in frontline communities — an allegation Russia has not addressed in connection with these strikes.

This is not the first time Ukraine has targeted the unit. On October 14, Ukrainian forces struck a concentration of Rubicon personnel near Novokostiantynivka in the occupied Zaporizhzhia region, the General Staff reported at the time. In September, Russia pulled Rubicon units back from the front line in northern Donetsk region after they suffered heavy losses during Ukraine's Operation Vivaldi offensive, according to the Kyiv Independent.

Strikes deep behind the line, talks in Abu Dhabi

The strikes fit a wider pattern Kyiv has described over recent months: Ukrainian drone units have expanded their reach from about 35 kilometres to as much as 300 kilometres behind the front line, in what commanders call "middle-range" strikes aimed at Russian logistics, command posts and drone infrastructure, backed by refined technology and a surge in state procurement through spring and summer 2026.

The announcements landed just before US-brokered peace talks between Ukraine and Russia opened in Abu Dhabi on Tuesday, November 10, with fighting continuing on the ground — Russia said and Ukrainian officials reported a major overnight attack on Ukraine's power grid in 10 regions as the talks began. US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said after the first day that there was still "a lot of work to be done" toward a final end to the war.

Read Awaaz Punjab's report on the first day of the Abu Dhabi talks: Abu Dhabi talks: day one